The Pirates! Band of Misfits
The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a series of stories about pirates originally written by Gideon Defoe. It was first published in 2004 and has gone on to spawn a franchise such as a film adaptation by Aardman Studios. It stars a group of Pirates sailing the seven seas going on adventures helping out people who come their way. There have been five comedy books along with one movie released in 2012. Characters The Pirate Captain: The captain of the pirate crew who like most characters doesn't have his real name confirmed. He is shown to be kind hearted but still follows "the pirate law" which allows many cruel things to happen to non pirates. He is also shown to be quite dumb and not careful with many of his pirating plans. As well as that he can be vain thinking that he will always get his way and is better than all the other pirates in the seven seas, however unfortunately nothing ever goes his way. The Pirate with a Scarf: The Pirate with a Scarf is The Pirate Captain's loyal assistant and sidekick given the name because of his bright red scarf. Despite his code name he is always to referred to as "Number two" instead. His real name is also unconfirmed. He is shown to always look out for his crew and is sometimes better than The Pirate Captain at it. The Pirate with a Scarf also realizes his captain's stupidity but however never reveals it to him in case he makes him walk the plank. He tends to be brighter than him and always knows the correct option which they should do instead. Black Bellamy: Black Bellamy is The Pirate Captain's rival but unfortunately better than him. He is known to be the greatest pirate and always wins the annual "Pirate of the Year" completion held. While he is not shown to be kind or nice he always succeeds in whatever he wants managing to get literally whole whales of gold. He is shown to be vain and hates every other pirate thinking he is better than them. Cutless Liz: Cutless Liz is a pretty pirate always attracting others with her face and getting several amounts of booty every year. Every pirate (including The Pirate Captain) is shown to find her cute and have a crush on her. She is still however very black hearted and cold to others even laughing at The Pirate Captain's determination to win Pirate of The Year in the film. Peg Leg Hastings: Peg Leg Hastings is a cocky pirate and one of the greatest in the sea. He is a party animal always showing off his gold and always being mean to other pirates. Mr. Bobo: Mr. Bobo is a "man pan zee" a chimp able to speak English using flashcards. He was originally a scientist assisting Charles Darwin but joined the Pirate Crew after the captain saved his boss's life and their pet dodo Polly's. In the film he was at first he was a villain helping Charles try to steal the crew's pet for The Queen Victoria who Darwin had a crush on until they saw her real ambitions and helped The Pirate Captain save her. However he is only in the original book one of Darwin's greatest discoveries parodying his theory of evolution. The Albino Pirate: The Albino Pirate is one of the most loyal of The Pirate crew who admires their pet a lot. He is shown to be quite dumb but always caring for the other members of the crew especially The Pirate Captain and Polly. He tends to be a parody of children and dogs aboard boats always acting immature. The Pirate With A Gout: The Pirate with A Gout is an ugly but loyal member of the Pirate Crew and one of the less stupid ones. Just like the others he is shown to love Polly and their captain very much and always helps them get out of trouble. While he can be a bit angry at times the pirate never wishes any harm to anyone. The Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate: The Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate is a female pirate who enjoys pirating an awful lot. Unfortunately for her she has to disguise herself as a man to keep on being a member of the crew. This apparently happens "an awful lot out at sea". She has a crush on The Pirate Captain always deceiving him with her deep manly voice to keep him thinking she is male. She still likes Polly a lot and has a lot of faith in her crew. The Pirate in Green: The Pirate in Green is one of the crew who doesn't hate but not love Polly as much as the others. While he doesn't mind her he is really a pirate because he enjoys it and wants to carry on. He does love his captain a lot and tends to be sweet to him a lot. The Pirate with a Hook where his Hand should Be: The Pirate with a Hook where his Hand should be is part of the pirate crew. Despite being a person he is described as "More of a chair than a pirate". He is still as loyal as the others but doesn't overreact over Polly as much. The Pirate in Red: The Pirate in Red is a member of the pirate crew who only stars in the book and is very inpatient and angry. He doesn't appear much and is mostly silent in the book. The Pirate who likes Kittens and Sunsets: The Pirate who likes Kittens and Sunsets is a dumb but colorful member of the pirate crew. Despite his bright sound he is shown to be strong but admires Polly and how cute she is. He still admires his captain but prefers the dodo. In the books he is not mentioned and never appears. The Burly Pirate: The Burly Pirate is a character who only appears in the books but never speaks. The Pirate with an Accordion: The Pirate with an Accordion is a dumb pirate who never speaks and only appears in the books. He is however shown to get confused by the scientist's theories leaving The Pirate Captain to talk for him. The Sassy Pirate: The Sassy Pirate is a cocky pirate who doesn't speak much. He is only shown to be in the book. Books Note: The Books are said to be different from the films and take place in an alternate dimension so plotlines will not exactly match up. The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists: The original introducing the pirate crew. After pirating The Beagle they meet Charles Darwin and his brother Fitzroy who are in need of their help to stop the evil Bishop of Oxford trying to steal Darwin's blood and skin to look younger. The Bishop is said to have a zoo jealous of Darwin's new discovery Mr. Bobo which is why he wants the scientist as his next victim. The Pirates disguise themselves as scientists to find out the zoo's schedule and find out about the several ladies' nights taking place. They then disguise themselves as women to sneak in and deafeat The Bishop. The Pirates! In An Adventure with Moby Dick: The sequel where the crew decide to get a new ship and find Cutless Liz who owns one called "The Lovely Emma". Unable to pay for the boat the crew head to land to find the moody whale hunter Ahab lookineg for the legendary Moby Dick offering a million pound prize to the finder. The Pirate Captain decides to enter to find the whale and pay for their new boat. The Pirates! In An Adventure with Communists: After sailing back to London to buy a new coat The Pirate Captain is framed by the communist Karl Marx and sent to prison along with his crew. After escaping the team travel to Paris to stop one of his evil plans. The Pirates! In An Adventure with Napoleon: The Pirate Captain gets fed up with all his failed pirating attempts and decides to retire from his pirating career on a nearby peaceful island where he can retire. However his retirement is soon distracted by an invading Napoleon and the two get into a war over who has a better hat. The Pirates! In An Adventure with Romantics: The pirates meet the greatest poets of their age and The Pirate Captain falls in love. The Crew and the poets team up to get her as his girlfriend with their romantic poems. Films The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists (Movie adaptation): The film begins with The evil Queen Victoria hiring a team of admirals to defeat all the pirates in the ocean. The pirate crew are then shown to be having one of their misspelled favorite festivals onboard the ship called "Ham Nite" where they feast upon ham. The Pirate Captain then shows the crew their beloved pet parrot Polly who is apparently "The Feathery Heart and Soul of the Boat" to get them all excited. He announces his depression of not being popular across the seven seas and decides to enter the "pirate of the year" competition to end it. After the team sail there all the other entries laugh at them saying he has entered it for the last twenty seven years and failed. This causes The Pirate Captain to be more determined and them confronts them saying he will win. After several attempts the crew find Charles Darwin's ship the Beagle and discover that Polly is really the last remaining dodo to not go extinct. He explains that if they show it to the science contest at Victorian London they could win "untold riches" and win Pirate of the year. The crew arrive and are welcomed to Darwin's house where they meet his pet Mr. Bobo and take rest. The Pirate with a Scarf find out that the scientist's real goals are to steal Polly and win the Science show for himself. While the captain and the rest of the crew don't believe him Darwin and Mr. Bobo's plan goes ahead to steal the dodo. The Pirate Captain rescues her, but doesn't see Darwin doing it and still doesn't believe his number two. At the science show the team find out that Darwin lied and nearly get executed by the queen. After being "pardoned" Charles manages to get the captain alone and steal Polly. The Captain chases him into the royal castle and finds out that Victoria wanted to steal her. The queen then manages to get Polly by giving The Pirate Captain rich and he wins Pirate of the year, until Black Bellamy reveals he was pardoned and he gets banished from pirating. His crew then find out what he did to Polly and desert him at London. The captain sells baby clothes while Darwin and Mr. Bobo become tramps. The three then meet and Darwin reveals he found out the queen's real ambitions. He explains that Victoria is part of a banquet to eat the most endangered and rare animals ever and are going to eat Polly. The two then decide to rescue her but are left by Mr. Bobo and travel to her flagship. After Victoria finds them she throws Darwin into a wall causing him to be unconscious and fights The Pirate Captain. She manages to get Polly and nearly chops her head off until Mr. Bobo comes and rescues her. The rest of the crew then come and reveal that Mr. Bobo travelled to them telling them that Mr. Bobo travelled to their ship to tell them what The Pirate Captain was doing. Victoria then rises again but The Pirate captain manages to defeat her sending her in the balloon flying to another island where the animals get their revenge by eating her. Darwin goes to another island to discover his theory of evolution and gets a girlfriend. The Pirate Captain gets pardoned and wanted for a prize of several doubloons. Mr. Bobo joins the pirate crew and they set off to find their next adventure. History The series of books went up to five and was a smash hit all the way from 2004 to 2012. After seeing how well the novels were selling Aaardman studios decided to create a film of the original. It however took a long time as it was animated through clay and became a dvd as well as becoming on Blu Ray. A sequel to the film was announced and is still being developed on today all though the entire story has been written. Trivia It is the only series written by Gideon Defoe.